Industrial carding machinery produce non-woven web forms mixtures of fibers such as polypropylene, polyethylene, cotton, viscose or regenerated fiber. A typical carding machine is having one or more main carding cylinders, and various other rolls that are arranged in juxtaposition and rotate wherein their axes horizontal. Fibers are traditionally fed and transferred to the first carding cylinder and carded by means of a plurality of sets of worker and striper rolls, which provide for a web of opened fibers of mainly longitudinal orientation. The carding succession continues wherein the fibers are processed by means of randomizing cylinders and doffer rolls that process the web until has a network characterization. Along the second or more carding cylinders along carding succession, the web is further processed to a predetermined measure. The finished carded web is then transferred to a set of complement rolls or air suction to a product conveyer belt.
It is known in the art that short fibers are discharge to waste by various suction chambers located adjacent to the main cylinder rolls and/or the doffer or other cylinders along the carding process. Hence, U.S. Pat. No. 6,568,037 to Leder and U.S. Pat. No. 5,095,584 to Temburg disclose few apparatuses for separating waste and short fibers from the carding process. Moreover, few inventions, such as U.S. Pat. No. 5,226,214 to Napolitano have presented a carding process characterized by a multiple doffing outlets, usually in a parallel configuration, located at the very last step of the process, after the last main carding cylinder. This invention is also teaching two or more combing cylinder adapted to convey the half-finished web to the second cylinder.
It is well acknowledge in the art that the carded web being processed along the carding cylinder is comprised of half-finished fiber web and a relatively minor portion of fully opened carded fibers. Said finished fibers are being re-cycled in this costly carding process and hence severely decrease homogeny and process productivity. Hence, a carding machine adapted for maintaining low fiber density on the main finisher cylinder while increasing production rate of the machine through the discharge of a certain amount of fully opened (-carded,) fibers from the breaker or first cylinder and thus increase in productivity and reduce the carding cost is still a long felt need.